No one has seen their own (political) death as many times as Pedro Sánchez. And no one has shown more ability to rise from its ashes and fly. This week he did it again. After the historic defeat in Andalusia, the traditional cellar of the votes of socialism; questionable management amid the deaths of thirty people at the Melilla fence; Inflation above double digits; A noticeable erosion in the polls and a secondary crisis of coalition partners – this time due to the increase in defense costs for the Atlantic alliance – the president of the government is heading for an autumn that looks black, after a mirage of consumption. in summer. A prolongation of the war in Ukraine could increase price increases and further damage the expected growth.
But if anyone believes in Pedro Sanchez, it’s Pedro Sanchez. And with the uproar brought by the success of the State of the Nation debate, La Montclois does not rule out having the necessary support to pass the mandate’s latest budget, a scenario that no one dared to even consider a few weeks ago. “The president put on the face of the NATO summit,” his team says ironically, pointing to the prominent role played by the head of government in the international arena, which even Joe Biden himself appreciated.
The apathetic climate in which the socialists were placed has suddenly returned to hope and, against the mantra set by the right about the inevitable change of the cycle, they believe that nothing is lost and that, despite the polls, there is room to win elections. . Sánchez is coming out for everyone and wants the government and the PSOE to be full time.
There will be no meeting of the party’s federal leadership next week due to incompatibility with the president’s agenda, but in Feraz they are preparing to call the federal committee on the first week of September. It will be where the party’s top body between congresses hears the president’s coordinates to contest the May 2023 municipal elections, an appointment that historically anticipates the outcome of the next general election. Sánchez does not want an apathetic or depressed organization in the style of the Andalusian election campaign.
It was after that unmitigated defeat that President Feraz heard the harshest rebuke to the federal leadership and speculation also began that he had made some changes to end the ongoing internal wars in the party and also. between the leadership and the parliamentary group, whose main character is always Deputy Secretary General Adriana Lastra. This is a battle that he wants to resolve as soon as possible, and no one excludes that he can do it before August, although the president keeps it a secret.
The debate on the state of the nation has served, in any case, to reframe the complex social framework in which citizens are demanding urgent solutions to contain price increases and, above all, to remedy the loss of energy procurement. With messages of sympathy for the working class, clarity of speech, social security measures announced in Congress and a clear shift to the left, the president is trying to ensure that there is no doubt about the government’s sensitivity. who are most affected by the consequences of the crisis. And, by the way, respond to his second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, who, a few days before the appointment of the parliament, said that the executive lacked spirit.
“Soul? “Soul, heart and life”, as in the song, this is the answer that the president’s circle gives to the promoter of the Sumar platform, who heard about the measures announced by the president with all Spaniards. “The soul, because it is the ability to feel and think, the heart because The approved measures show that we are responsible for people’s state of mind and many lives ahead,” the socialist minister sarcastically asserts.
In La Moncloa, they’re congratulating themselves not only for getting the legislature to announce 2023 and 2024 emergency taxes on energy companies and banks, but for breaking the framework of electoral progress that the right has flirted with and responded to. hammering away at their media terminals.
Even in some sectors of the PP, which missed an opportunity this week to consolidate its lead in the polls, they acknowledge that Sánchez has regained the political initiative and even that he has managed to hold together a governing coalition, although they are defensive. Due to the economic crisis, Sanchez left La Moncloa.
United We Can’s enthusiastic response to the President’s announced measures undoubtedly gave the government an appearance of stability beyond the sterile claim of his paternity and that the purple could use them electorally to demonstrate the utility of his presence. Cabinet.
Sánchez also managed to unite the investment bloc, albeit with varying degrees of subservience. And the best proof of that was the vote on the proposed resolutions that followed the State of the Nation debate and the support that came out of the Democratic Memory Laws — supported by seven parties — the reform of the judiciary that he’s trying to do. Put an end to PP’s blockade of the renewal of constitutional bodies and the second package of anti-crisis measures. Alliances can be fragile or unstable, but so far the PSOE has not lost a single vote in the lower house.
What will happen from September remains to be seen as, despite good employment data, economic uncertainty is a reality and Spain, like the rest of Europe, is preparing to curb consumption, with a drastic winter energy saving plan and to contain inflation. He doesn’t seem to give up. All this has already led to cuts in growth forecasts for the last session of the legislature in Brussels. Sánchez will have to deal with all this, despite the PSOE insisting that “the time is right” to return and that the general election is still a long way off. The president will be so tired of listening to the parliamentary allies that he will not rule without listening to them, structural changes are needed in addition to conjunctural measures, and neither his patience nor understanding with the government is infinite. . “If turning to the left is not a conjunctural posture, let them prove it, except for structural reforms and purely social content in the general budgets of 2023,” they say from the parliamentary leftists.
At the moment, the economic sphere of the government is working on the fact that inflation will not collapse due to the prolongation of the war in Ukraine, as well as the forecasts of the European Commission, which state 4% growth. Above the European average, the Eurozone and the larger economies around us. And it is in this scenario that the public accounts of 2023 have been developed, and for which the PSOE doubted a few days ago whether they would have the necessary parliamentary support for their approval. Now they don’t rule it out at all. “Sanchez has fought in worse places,” remember those who appeal to his tremendous resilience and warn those who think he’s dead.
PS The PSOE has always been a party with an amazing ability to move from depression to euphoria. And this week it happened again. How long will it last, let’s see.
Source: El Diario
